"Every once in awhile, I get to visit a new spot, taste the food and immediately realize I'm onto something special. That happened just the other night at this new and promising spot in a town with plenty of decent ethnic cooking. Its small, modern and comfortable interior suggests quality and sophistication. The food, however, says so much more. Two words you must remember: papri chaat. This little appetizer is just $5, but it packs so much "wow factor" and complexity. It's made with chips, potatoes, garbanzo beans, chilies, yogurt and tamarind chutney – all that served in eight bite-sized pieces. The textures are crunchy and then velvety on the finish, and the flavors are so soothing and thorough that I didn't want the dish to end. Would it be wrong to follow an appetizer with the same appetizer? It was one of the most enjoyable dishes I've had in recent memory, paired with a nice glass of German riesling. How do you top that? You bring out the naan bread, which also was perfect – pillowy soft, pleasing to the eye, full of flavor and with just the right amount of tender chewiness. Then came the main dishes, one of which was vegetarian (like the appetizer). I'm referring to an eggplant dish called "Bengan Bertha," which is made in a clay tandoor oven. Tender, complex, perfectly balanced – it made me think I might have stumbled upon my new favorite place for Indian food. The chicken tikka masala is always a good test – and this version didn't disappoint. Not only did the tomato-based sauce have the telltale creaminess and luxurious mouthfeel, but there was an added dimension of lively but balanced spiciness. We left with more questions than answers. Which was our favorite dish? Impossible to say. When will we be back? Very soon. And who is the maestro in the kitchen? Stay tuned for that one as we delve into the menu more thoroughly in the months to come." (http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/27/4515111/first-impressions-indian-food.html#storylink=cpy)

Simply put, Zindagi is quality Indian food in an upscale dining atmosphere. Instead of an "all-you-can-eat" lunch buffet, Zindagi offers a $8 lunch plate that comes with rice, 3 changing main entrees, salad, yogurt sauce, and naan. Pretty wonderful deal. Flavorful food and ambiance, what more could you ask for?

Comments:

2012-01-27 11:17:45 I ate here last night and was impressed. The food was delicious, and I like it much better than the other Indian places in town, some of which I like a lot. My friend and I tried the Shrimp Vindaloo and the Bengan Bhartha, and had a difficult time deciding which we liked better. Each came with a side of rice OR naan, so we got one of each, and were offered more when they ran out. Although my first impression when the food came out was that the portions were a bit on the small side, we were both full at the end of the meal. They were very busy, more than they anticipated, I think, so the food was slow to come out, but the service was friendly and attentive and the atmosphere was excellent. I am looking forward to going back and working my way through the menu. They said they expected to have beer and wine in about a week and hard liquor sometime later. One minor complaint - we were seated at the bar and the stools had no backs. They were not uncomfortable, but it left us with no place to put our purses or jackets. On balance, though, it was a great experience. Definitely one of my new favorites restaurants in town. —EmilyH

2012-01-27 21:26:48 Ate here for the first time tonight and am excited to go back. Much more reasonably priced and I think higher quality than some of the other Indian places in town. Got the lamb vindaloo, chicken tikka massala and chicken saagwala with rice and extra garlic naan for $33. The meat in all the dishes was moist and delicious. The saagwala was extra good, followed by the vindaloo, and I thought the chicken tikka was just normal. One thing that confused me was that all the dishes come with rice or naan and you can't order ala carte. It was tough to figure out my rice to naan ratio, so I went two rice, one naan, and an extra garlic naan. I think I could have gotten away with two naan and one rice. I tried to take a menu with me to upload to the wiki, but they encouraged me not to as they said it wasn't a finalized menu. Anyways, as I said before, I'm excited. —MikeyCrews

2012-03-07 11:07:18 Ate here the other night. Ordered the chili chicken with rice and a side of garlic naan. It was very good, I ordered it medium spicy but it tasted more like mild, I will have to try the very spicy next time. The garlic naan was amazing as was the paneer naan. Decor was nice and the price wasn't too bad, about 12-13 bucks a person without any drinks. I will definitely be back. —MMAC

2012-04-29 02:24:02 Me and some friends went here last night. We ordered all vegetarian dishes, such as dal, malai kofta, and paneer tikka masala. The food was quite good, though not very spicy. However, I am used to extremely spicy food, but had friends who weren't, so we didn't ask for them to make it spicy. That said, the portion sizes were small, almost too small for the price we paid. Raja's costs the same but has bigger portions, and more flavor. Great ambiance though! —chandru

2012-05-20 11:16:05 Ate there last night and was also impressed with the food. Service was great as well. They have been the unfortunate victim of Restaurant.com, which sold $25 gift certificates for their restaurant without their knowledge. I mentioned that I had one before ordering and our server apologized profusely (apparently Restaurant.com targets Indian and other ethnic restaurants with this practice) and offered us a discount and said he would certainly understand if we didn't want to eat there. Glad we did and am completely dumbfounded that Restaurant.com would do this sort of thing). I post this only to hopefully help other people avoid this problem. New restaurants just don't need this kind of problem. Oh, and I agree with a previous commenter—the naan was really great. —mlgoodson

2012-05-30 11:56:01 Food was good (though a bit salty), but portions were smaller than you'd receive at other restaurants in town and the entrees are priced higher. The waitress we had must have been having a really bad day, because every little thing seemed to put her out. Service definitely was brusque. I like their food, but all things considered will probably go somewhere else when I'm craving Indian. —AJThompson

2012-06-05 12:19:29 I was anxious to try this new restaurant after reading the Sacramento Bee's effusive review. We ate there last night (on a Monday) and it was reasonably busy but we were seated quickly and the wait for food was reasonable. The place looks good - minimally contemporary, although I HATE to have television on at a restaurant (even with the sound off) and the music was a little loud. The back half of the restaurant (and it is tiny) does seem a little nicer than the tiny bar area and the casual dress of the server (polo shirt and slacks) does not seem to suit the environment. I agree with Blair Anthony Robertson (from the Bee) that the papri chaat appetizer is wonderful. Everything else was tasty, although the dishes did seem small. The naan was great, especially the one with dried cherries. A little touch of sweet was perfect with the savory food. I didn't care for the raita - it was runny with no chunks of cucumber with is how I prefer. The one sour note was the server - brusque does describe her manner. She performed her job but was not welcoming or warm and help with the menu or describing the dishes as they came was cursory. We'll go again but do hope for more charming, attentive service. —BarbaraZ

2012-06-07 20:20:32 Friends and I went here a few weeks ago for dinner, during opening week I think. The service was fine and the place had a clean/minimalist/"modern" feel to it. There was a bar and a TV too.

The menu was pretty small compared to the normal range of selection for Indian restaurants. The presentation of the food was great, and the quality was nothing to complain about, though it wasn't super impressive for the price. (At Raja's you can get equivalent quality but a larger portion for the same price.) We didn't test the limits of how spicy they could make the food, as we were with some people who weren't used to that sort of thing. Honestly, the price was the main issue. This may have been adjusted recently though, I don't know. It also could have had some more vegetarian options, though as I understand it, they're still working on the menu.

There is hope for them, but for now Preethi's and Raja's are my favorites in Davis. —AlexTK

2012-06-15 19:32:47 Pretty good. A friend and I got the chicken tikka misala, a lamb/spinach dish, and a vegetarian cheese dish.The chicken tikka misala was pretty good, but that's kind of how it is at every Indian Davis restaurant I've been to. We didn't like the lamb/spinach dish that much- the lamb itself was cooked well but we just weren't huge fans of the spinach sauce it was in, just a matter of taste I suppose. My biggest complain was the cheese dish; it was really good, but at the same time it was like 8 or 9 bucks for two chunks of the cheese that were about the size of shot glasses, if not slightly smaller, and then a crap load of sauce. Overall, flavors are good but serving sizes are kind of small. 3 plates was barely enough for two people, one of which doesn't even eat that much to begin with. —AndrewJacobs

2012-06-18 09:23:16 Really enjoyed the food here and the service. I agree with others though that the TV was annoying. We had to ask to have it turned down. —LokiAbbi

2012-09-29 21:49:54 We had mixed experience here — some dishes very good and flavorful (chicken tikka masala, bengan bertha, navratan korma) and others not so good (chicken saagwalla which was almost flavorless and naan which was flat and a bit greasy). The bad naan might make this place a non-starter, especially since my partner liked the food less than I did. But maybe I'll give it another shot with some other folks. :-) —CovertProfessor

2012-11-17 22:31:30 Last experience here was mixed. The naan was burnt to a crisp. Literally it was crispy one side and tough enough on the other that you couldn't tear through it with your teeth. The naan failure basically ruined the meal. However, the chicken karahi was really good, one of the best Indian dishes I've had in town. Super tender, flavorful chicken with a nice mix of vegetables. The saagwala wasn't as good as I remember it being the first time we ate there. —MikeyCrews

2013-01-16 10:07:53 Went here with a group of friends last night and was very impressed with the food and service. Influenced by the Sac Bee review posted above, we ordered the Papri Chaat as an appetizer and were not disappointed - it was delicious. The rest of the dishes were all very tasty, and the naan was perfectly cooked. Dinner and drinks (wine or beer) for 6 of us was $160, which seemed very reasonable. The wait staff was courteous, friendly and responsive. I will definitely eat here again! —scottfischbein

2013-02-06 17:24:04 I keep returning to this place because they have certain items on their menu that are more like home-style (simple, flavorful, lighter) food than restaurant-style (greasy, salty, creamy, rich). Whenever I am looking for a comforting plate of yellow lentils over rice, yogurt and crispy okra on the side, with fluffy griddle-cooked chapati bread, I head here. They also have pani-puri on the menu, which is usually rare and good enough to satisfy a craving. —geetika

2013-09-11 14:06:11 We like to eat at every restaurant that opens in Davis. In fact, we have TRIED to eat here on two separate occasions only to find the lights off, chairs stacked up, and the door locked. Because there were no signs posted on the door or window, we were convinced that they had quickly gone out of business. Both times were between 6P and 7P. On a third occasion, we happened to walk down E St on our way somewhere else and I almost shouted at my companion because the lights were on and there were people obviously dining inside. We had already eaten, so we did not patronize them. I know mom'n'pop stores tend to have more erratic hours/vacation closures,etc, but I don't understand why there wasn't a sign explaining to their customers (and potential customers) why they were unexpectedly closed... Since I don't know when they will be open or closed, I don't think I will be going out of my way to check on them. The stars will have to align just right. —JSilva

2013-09-15 15:57:40 Well, we were hoping to try this restaurant especially in face of the Sac Bee review like other Wiki-ites but we've also tried before and found them unexpectedly closed with no sign or anything else. We did get in this weekend and were disappointed. I had the eggplant- a decent sized serving of mild-mannered eggplant mush and rice. After eating out a few tablespoons full, the depression where my food had been was replaced by frank yellow grease. My husband's prawns had a few prawns in an oily mush. And the promised riesling to go with all of this? They were out of it. So not yet my favorite Indian in town. —JaneBF

2013-11-08 12:54:42 We've enjoyed three dinners at Zindagi, the last time bringing a guest (who knows Davis well) and he agreed the food is super! Definitely get the papri chaat to start, and after that, everything has been great. The service is friendly and we've enjoyed both patio tables and the bench/booths inside. This is one of our favorite spots! —PeterGreen

2014-01-11 15:38:41 Went by last night and the windows are papered over. The inside is gutted and the website no longer exists. Looks like the end has come for Zindagi. —MichaelPlotkin